Friday, October 13, 2006

“It’s Like Meeting Old Friends.”

I’m married to a woman who is passionate about tidiness so when faced with the threat of having my normally chaotic studio tidied up I knew I had to act immediately! The trouble with being ‘tidy’ is that you can never find things; but never mind the enforced reorganisation of my studio storage did me a good turn – I had to sort through my old painting and drawings.

This was a task that took me two days because renewing acquaintance with the paintings was like meeting old friends, you can’t just give them a cursory glance and pass on. Memories come back and the realisation dawns that things don’t look as they once did so many of the subjects I would now treat differently. There are several paintings though that could be improved by the application of a stronger wash or by cropping to a smaller format. That’s a task that will have to be fitted in between developing new work during the coming months.

About Me

M.Sc. (Math Ed), Open University (BA) , I learned to paint at Walsall and Stafford Schools of Art.
My current painterly interest is wildlife. I work from plein air drawings and my own photographs.
I try to give equal weight to the animal’s environment as well as it’s behaviour.
I studied for three years at the Walsall and Stafford Schools of Art at a time when art students spent at least two days and one evening in the life class.
The rigorous discipline of close observation and drawing developed in the life class was one of the benefits which has lasted.
My creative output mirrors the things I care about, draws on my experiences, and generally tries to interpret what the eye likes.
For me art also embraces a tradition of sound craftsmanship–I'm driven by a desire to make well crafted artefacts that will give lasting pleasure.
I later took an interest in mathematics and was awarded a Masters Degree by Loughborough University